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August 3, 2009
TO: Potential Donors
RE: Columbia Academy Fundraising Efforts
As you may know, Columbia Academy
has now ended a very successful capital campaign. At
this time we are changing gears and looking to start
an annual fund to maintain the efforts that we
started. During the capital campaign we hired an
outside consulting company to assist us with our
effort. The contract with that firm is now
completed. Our new annual fund drive will be
administered from within the school, and as with any
project at Columbia Academy, will require many
volunteer hours. In addition we are trying to keep
the cost of the effort as low as possible.
We are certainly aware that there
is much uncertainty with the economy. The amount of
discretionary income that might be given to
charitable causes is lower now than in the recent
past. However, we feel that there is still an
opportunity to help support Columbia Academy through
fundraising. In order for us to keep our tuition
affordable, everyone must make efforts to raise
funds. As with most independent schools, tuition at
Columbia Academy pays for more than ninety percent
of our annual budget. The fundraising efforts that
we undertake help pay for the margin of excellence
that we strive for at Columbia Academy. The money
that is raised through our efforts becomes a
"scholarship" for every student at Columbia Academy
because they benefit from the improvements provided.
The purpose of the annual fund
primarily will be to help keep our tuition as
affordable as possible, while also improving all
aspects of the school. The annual fund goal for
2009/2010 is $125,000.00. Everyone should
participate. Each donation is important regardless
of size and makes an impact on students at our
school. Please make a contribution yourself, and
pass this letter and the enclosed information on to
someone who you believe can be a benefit to our
efforts. Certainly grandparents, other family
members and friends have an interest in seeing that
our children succeed.
I have enclosed a flyer that
details the opportunities for giving at Columbia
Academy. Additional copies are available in my
office. In addition all of this information is
available on our website www.cacougars.com under the
"Development" section. If you should have any other
comments or suggestions, please let me know. Please
take time to make a contribution to the Annual Fund
by check or by filling out the enclosed pledge form
detailing your contribution. These should be sent to
the above address or delivered to my office. I thank
you for your attention in this matter.
Sincerely,
H. Tom Porter
July 24, 2009
Dear Patrons:
I hope that everyone has had
a good break. We have had another productive summer at the
school and look forward to the next school year. We now need to
build upon our past growth and success.
I want to welcome our new
students to CA. We will have many new students that will be
joining our CA family. Enrollment now stands at 561. This
includes 102 kindergarten students, 225 students in grades 1-6,
and 234 in grades 7-12. Please continue to promote our school
and the many good things that are happening here. Enclosed
please find a fact sheet about the school. Make a commitment to
pass this on to someone you know who has school age children.
Each patron needs to be an ambassador for our school in their
respective communities. If I can be of further assistance in
this regard please let me know.
There are many things that I
want to discuss in this letter and I will take them one by one:
Work Day – August 1st 7:00
a.m. – Until
Our annual work day will be
Saturday, August 1 beginning at 7:00 a.m. and continuing until
we get tired and quit. Usually we are done by mid-afternoon.
Everyone is encouraged to come help. Not only do we get a lot
of work done, but we get to visit and meet new faces coming to
our school this year. You can bring any type of yard and
outside equipment from a rake to a tractor. There are always
plenty of weedeating opportunities. Also pressure washers are
useful. If you should have any questions, please let me know.
Kindergarten
Open-House-July 30
An open-house for K-3, K-4
and K-5 will be held on Thursday, July 30th at 6:00
pm. At this event you will receive information on our
kindergarten and be given an opportunity to ask questions.
This meeting will be held in the Fine Arts Center.
First Day of School –
August 6
All students and visitors
(grades K-12) will meet in the gym on Thursday, August 6, 2009,
by 8:00 a.m. We will have an opening assembly, and after that
time the elementary will be dismissed to their rooms. After
elementary students meet their teachers, they will be free to
leave. Grades 7-12 will remain in the gym for additional
instructions, and then we will run an abbreviated schedule. Jr.
high & high school will dismiss at 12:00 p.m. August 7 will be
a full day of school with the cafeteria open.
Traffic Diagram
Please review the enclosed
traffic diagram If you are coming in from the West you have an
option to enter on the new entrance on Old Lakeview Road. Please
do not impede the traffic exiting from the Lakeview
subdivision. This road is an entrance only and should be used
only during high traffic times.
Cougar Store
Mrs. Sylvia Berry continues
to run the Cougar Store, which is located in the gym. Beginning
August 3rd, she will open Monday thru Friday from 8:00 a.m. to
4:00 p.m. She continues to get new merchandise, such as uniform
shirts and jackets that are in compliance with Columbia
Academy’s dress code.
Cafeteria
The major physical plant
activity this summer has been the renovation of the lunchroom.
As was announced at the end of the school year, we will once
again operate the lunchroom ourselves. Valley Food Services had
operated it as an independent contractor for several years. We
have hired Mike Barber as the manager of the cafeteria. Mike
has run our concessions for the past year and a half and has
many years of experience in the food service area. Mike has
worked hard this summer, not only in the renovation of the
lunchroom but on other maintenance projects. Although the
dining area is virtually unchanged, the kitchen and storage area
were completely renovated. These renovations included
electrical, plumbing, as well as carpentry work. In addition,
several new items of equipment have been purchased. These
improvements will make the cafeteria not only more efficient but
also safer. Enclosed in this mail-out is the information on the
cafeteria. Although there will be challenges with this
endeavor, I look forward to working with Mike and his staff in
improving the cafeteria. I encourage each of you to support the
cafeteria and be patient as we work out any issues that might
arise.
Welcome Back
July 24, 2009
Page 2
Staff
I am excited about the staff
we have for this year. Mr. Baxter White will begin his fourth
year as Assistant Headmaster and Athletic Director. Mr. White
and I will have teaching duties again this year. Mrs. Janet
Burton will continue to serve as elementary coordinator. Mrs.
Mimi DeOrnellas continues to serve as our kindergarten
coordinator which will have two K-5 and K-4 classes and one K-3
class. Mrs. Belinda Teston will begin her fourth year as our
counselor.
Our faculty will have only a
few new faces this year. Melanie Bass will be new in the
position of a first grade teacher. Melanie is a Columbia
Academy graduate and has two children at our school. Amy
Johnson will teach junior high science. She will have two
children at our school. Marianne Polk will teach junior high
social studies. Mrs. Polk has been a substitute at our school
and has a master’s degree with over 30 years experience.
Finally, Beverly Hutson will teach high school history. Ms.
Hutson has over twenty years of experience in the public
schools. Please join me in welcoming these new teachers. In
addition, Christina Spell will move down to the fifth grade this
year from junior high.
We have always been blessed
to have great teachers and I ask that you continue to support
them this year.
Academics
We continue to strengthen the
curriculum at Columbia Academy. Although I see promise with
test scores, I feel that we need to continue to improve. Please
spend time with your students and encourage them daily in their
work. If parents of students of all grades will keep themselves
informed, many negative issues in student performance can be
avoided.
In early 2006 the Mississippi
Institutions for Higher Learning voted to increase the
requirements for the college prep curriculum beginning with the
class of 2010. The MPSA and Columbia Academy raised
requirements to meet the IHL standards. The IHL then voted to
delay implementation of the stronger requirements until the
class of 2012. Columbia Academy and the MPSA maintained the
earlier decision for the stronger requirements beginning with
the class of 2010. A concerted effort should be made between
the counselor, administration, student, and parents that all
needs are met. If you should have any questions about the
graduation requirements, please contact the counselor.
I encourage everyone who has
the ability to take the AP and advanced courses that we offer.
If we do not have adequate participation in these classes we
will not be able to continue to offer them.
The following classes will
receive weighted credit this year:
1st Period
Honors Algebra II- Middleton
AP American History-Fails
2nd Period
AP English-Terry
3rd Period
Honors Algebra I-Middleton
Honors English II-Watts
Honors Physics-Polk
4th Period
Honors Algebra III-Pearce
(Dual Credit)
5th Period
Honors Trigonometry and
Pre-Calculus-Middleton
If you want your student to
be in these classes and they are not scheduled, please see the
counselor.
A lot of time has been spent
setting up the 7-12 schedules. Care was taken to satisfy
graduation and IHL requirements, as well as, challenging each
student. A form for schedule change request is available in the
counselor’s office. Valid reasons for the change must be stated
as well as the parent’s signature. All final changes will have
to be approved by the headmaster.
Welcome Back
July 24, 2009
Page 3
Pizza Party and Meet the
Cougars Night; August 11th
Once again the Booster Club
will be sponsoring a pizza party in the cafeteria from 6:00 p.m.
- 7:30 p.m. before Meet the Cougars Night. Tickets for the
Pizza Party are $5.00 and can be purchased in the Cougar Store
or the business office. We invite all grades out to this event
to enjoy pizza and meet the fall sports teams including all
levels of football, fast-pitch softball, cheer, dance, and
cross-country.
Athletics
I encourage you to support
the athletic events at the school. By the time school starts,
many of our student athletes will be into their seasons
including football, fast-pitch softball, and cross country.
Copies of schedules are included in the mail-out and the
calendar on the website contains all games scheduled as of this
date.
Jr.High Boys P.E.
For the second year junior
high boys playing either basketball or football will be having
their P.E. or activities period 1st period. They
will be required to be at school prior to 8:00 a.m. The coaches
will inform them of practice times.
Web-Site
We once again will be
updating our web site (www.cacougars.com).
The monthly school calendar found there is up to date and
useful. We will continue to build upon our use of the on-line
grading system.
Handbook
Due to the increased cost of
publishing the student handbook annually, the handbook will only
be published digitally on the web-site. Students and parents
will still sign the form indicating that they have reviewed the
handbook and accept its terms. If any student does not have
access to a computer with internet, the school will print a copy
of the handbook for the cost of $5.00. Requests can be made
with Myra Williams in my office. The handbook with this year’s
revisions will be available on the web-site on August 4. The
handbook forms are enclosed herein and should be signed and
turned in by Wednesday, August 12, 2009.
Attendance
It is very important for
students to be in school everyday. Of course we realize that
sickness and family crisis will arise. However, any absence
that is not a necessity hurts the student and inevitably causes
the teacher additional time and effort. Please review carefully
the tardies, absences, and make-up portions of the handbook.
For the past several years we have had the policy that if a
student goes over the maximum absences the time will be made up
before receiving credit or passing. This will continue to be
enforced and has helped us keep unnecessary absences to a
minimum.
Contributions
We have been successful over
the past couple of years with our fundraising efforts. However,
only a small number of our patrons have made contributions. I
know that the economy is not favorable for contributions at this
time, but I do ask that you keep the school in mind.
Additionally, if you have a family member that would be able to
contribute, please pass the opportunity on to them. If you have
a specific item or project that you would like to contribute to,
please let me know. As I have said repeatedly we cannot
continue to improve the opportunities that our students have by
tuition alone. The funds above tuition that are generated
should be born by all patrons as they are able.
Finally, I ask that each of
you pray for our school, its students, and staff. We want to
have a safe school year where everyone grows mentally,
physically, and spiritually. If you should ever need to discuss
anything, please do not hesitate to visit me.
Sincerely,
H. Tom Porter
Headmaster
Past
Articles
Our jamboree was
once again a success. I want to thank all that worked to make
it successful. Certainly our staff works hard to make it happen
but others do as well. We have volunteers that do everything
from painting the field to helping in the hospitality area. I
want to especially thank Ricky Dyess for once again cooking for
the hospitality tent. Other schools enjoy coming to our
jamboree because of the food and the way they are treated during
the event.
Lordy, Lordy...! One thing
I failed to mention in the opening assembly is that we turn 40
this year. Although the school had earlier history than the 1970
/ 1971 school year, Columbia Academy as we know it today
celebrates its 40th with this school year. Our seniors will be
the 40th graduating class.
Meet the Cougars Night was very
successful and well attended. I enjoy supporting our student
athletes and seeing the color. There is not a better
combination than orange, white and blue. The level of
participation in each activity is very impressive. Our students
are making lasting memories through these activities. I want
to thank Sylvia Berry for her work in getting the Pizza Party
together and Sheryl DeAngelo and Jason Stringer for their work
with the presentation in the gym.
I want to thank
Julie Johnson and the Columbian Progress for the coverage they
give not only to our school but to the others as well. The new
school year pictures were great including the front page picture
of our students Olivia and Kendall. That picture showed two
pretty girls at opposite ends of the CA experience. In addition
the full page coverage of the meet the cougars night is much
appreciated.
Nostalgia!
Thanks to Ronnie Stewart
for allowing us to display his football helmet from 1973. Ronnie
was a senior that year and participated in the All-star game.
The emblems on the helmet are hand - painted. Ronnie's helmet is
in good shape for its age but pales in comparison to the $200.00
Revolution helmets most of our players wear today.
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Sincerely,
Tom
Porter
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